A friend recently pointed me to the book They Will Be Giants by Robert Wilson and I immediately saw why. Most of my friends know that my ideal job is working in a business with any of them. Regardless of role or financial success, just working with them has always been inspirational. I’ve always stated in my interviews that my primary value in any opportunity is the ability to make new relationships that will last a lifetime. Sometimes it takes time to recover from a departure and get connected back to those who are likewise interested, but often it just happens without thinking.

This leads to my mantra:

If I come away from a job without meaningful relationships with my coworkers then it was a waste of my time.

After all, I could always find another job that needed my skills and experience, but finding another workplace that shares values with me is the important part. Yes, your company sounds great and your product really cool, and maybe your values are top-notch – but does it build a team dynamic that stands the test of time? I’ve seen this distinction many times in the workplace and more often than not it’s the rapidly growing companies that struggle the most to make the stars properly align because, like in nature, you cannot force the rapid exponential growth of meaningful relationships.

Seeds only come from mature plants and that takes time and nurturing.

Now if you want to mimic a virus, I won’t stop you, but I don’t think the end result is what you are after.

Wilson’s book helped me identify some of the secret sauce behind some of my most successful relationships and business ventures – they have always been about building up a network of connections with a diverse set of individuals with a variety of technical, business, and interpersonal skills that inspire me.

This sounds simple but how often do we take it for granted that friends will be there when you need them – yet we may never make the meaningful changes in our lives to help fully catalyze these interactions for the mutual benefit of all? I’ll come back to this in my next post.

One-on-one follow up

This week I’m trying something new: an open invite for a 30-minute one-on-one video call.

If you’d like a complimentary 30 minute session to talk through some of the challenges in your own ecosystem – give me a call. I’m currently taking on new opportunities in product and business leadership and would love to hear what you are up to and give any advice where needed and connect you to my broader network where appropriate.

Pick a time in my calendar and let’s connect!

About Tyler Mitchell

Director Product Marketing @ OmniSci.com GPU-accelerate data analytics | Sr. Product Manager @ Couchbase.com - next generation Data Platform for System of Engagement! Former Eng. Director @Actian.com, author and technology writer in NoSQL, big data, graph analytics, geospatial and Internet of Things. Follow me @1tylermitchell or get my book from http://locatepress.com/.